Hong Kong protesters confront government officials in TV debate

Beijing: Hong Kong's political crisis shifted from its city streets to an austere university lecture theatre as student protest leaders faced off with government officials in a much-anticipated televised debate after more than three weeks of an unprecedented civil disobedience campaign.

Across the city, a strong police presence looked on as thousands of protesters gathered at protest sites on Tuesday evening; enthralled at the contest beamed live on to big screens set up at the venues from outside government headquarters in Admiralty, to the gritty Kowloon district of Mong Kok.

Enthralled: Tens of thousands of protesters gather to listen to the talks at the main protest site in Hong Kong. Photo: Getty Images

That the talks were convened was testament to the impact the protests have had, something that Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief secretary and the most senior official on the government's panel, conceded.

"We cannot deny that in the past month, the class boycott started by you and the occupation movement, something huge has happened," Ms Lam said during the debate. "Such a social movement is large-scale and its impact is far-reaching."

A woman poses for a photo with the paper fold umbrellas at the occupied area in Causeway Bay. Photo: AP

Ostensibly designed to help break the ice over the political deadlock, protest organisers were pessimistic before the debate about the prospects of a breakthrough for their demands of unencumbered democratic elections being reached.

Instead, they saw it as a platform for Hong Kong's seven million residents to see a debate unadulterated by what has often been highly-polarising media coverage within the city, or as 18-year-old protest leader Joshua Wong put it, "for the general public to tell the difference between right and wrong, to know whether it is the government or the students who reasons things out".

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During the debate, Ms Lam said the Hong Kong government would consider submitting a formal report to the central government in Beijing relaying, rather than advocating for, the demands and concerns of the pro-democracy protesters.

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Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who did not take part in the debate, said a day before the debates that there was "room for discussion" in making the 1200-strong nominating committee that would effectively be able to vet election candidates "more democratic". The committee is widely criticised for being stacked with elites loyal to Beijing.

"There could be a compromise somewhere in between by making the nominating committee more acceptable to the students," Mr Leung told reporters. But he reiterated that direct nomination of candidates was impossible under the Basic Law that governs Hong Kong and that in any case, Beijing had the right to decide whether or not to appoint the winner of any election.

"You could imagine the scale and the kind of constitutional crisis if Beijing said to the people of Hong Kong, 'Sorry, this person who you just elected is not appointable and is not acceptable. Go back to the polling station and try again,' " he said.

In a stark warning, Mr Leung said that Beijing had so far allowed Hong Kong to handle the protests on its own, but that could change if protesters persisted with confronting the government.

"Challenging myself; challenging the Hong Kong government at these difficult times will do no one any service," he said.

The government's hinted concessions fall well short of the student leaders' demands for Mr Leung to step down, and for unencumbered elections where candidates can be directly nominated.

Hong Kong officials have the choice to support democracy or to "go down in history as people who have deprived Hong Kong of democracy", said Lester Shum, one of the leaders on the Federation of Students debating panel.

"Hong Kong's young people have already sacrificed their studies and time. We are even willing to be arrested and go to jail. Now the government is only telling us to pack up and go home. The whole generation, awakened by tear gas, cannot accept this."

As the debate neared its end, Ms Lam emphasised there was still room for public consultation before the next election in 2017, and encouraged students to form a platform to help focus on arrangements leading up to and after the next election.

"Having aspiration is not enough, we should be pragmatic," she said.

"I hope you have the courage and wisdom to think of a way out of the current situation."